The Ravenous Pig Gastropub

Written By: Gail Clifford | Published By: Weekend Notes | September 25, 2022

https://www.weekendnotes.com/the-ravenous-pig-winter-park/

James Beard nominated chefs James and Julie Petrakis of The Ravenous Pig make Winter Park, Florida their home with their second rendition of their restaurant, now in its 15th year, according to our server, Charles, with an expansion to the beer garden. It’s a long wait, even with reservations, and impossible to get a seat without them on busy weekends. Great coverage from the rain can be found in the bar area during the rainy season.

Once seated, allergies are relayed, and Charles invited us to peruse the menu as a sampling is prepared for our enjoyment. As the inquisitive travel writer, I have to ask what we’ll receive, but he wants it to be a surprise. On offer, cheese and charcuterie, s’mores French toast, pimento cheese fries, biscuits & gravy, wings, pork ribs, shrimp tacos and patatas bravas (an especially popular dish in this section of Florida.

As we consider the Gatherer or Arugula salad, and sandwiches from a chimichurri steak, country ham muffin, fried chicken cordon bleu, a pub burger or mahi sandwich with pickled slaw, w wonder if we’ll even have room to eat any more after whatever they have to share.

Brunch menus include a crab cake benedict, shrimp & polenta, and a butternut tagliatelle. Their chicken & waffles, Charles tells us, is a combination of layered flavors with waffles and guava and goat cheese with an espresso milk crumb. Everything here has just a bit of a twist.

Fair warning, if you don’t eat pork or cheese and have gluten issues, your options will be limited. The beef from the pub burger or the mahi without the bread became my only options.

Fortunately, my colleagues had no such issues and were able to share their impressions with me.

As we waited, I checked in with Charles who told me about the desserts available for lunch: apple fritters and chocolate chip cookies. There are other dessert options for dinner, but none are gluten free.

Charles presents a long board of charcuterie that crosses the entire 5 seat round top table.

“Here we have Soppressata, Saville Road cheddar, Tete de Cochon and the lomo, the toscano and the camembert accompanied by a Spicy IPA mustard as well as date jam, lamash, and salted walnuts.”

It’s impressive, a wine and cheese connoisseur’s dream. Stacey, our wine expert, considered the extensive wine list (equal in size to the entire menu), and chose an Albarino, a medium bodied white wine. She conferred with Charles once she’d narrowed her options to two. While he agreed her other choice was an excellent wine, he preferred this one as “one of the best.”

After she appropriately sniffed, swirled and tested her wine, she took a proper taste and declared it “very excellent.”

As Paula and Stacey enjoyed the cheeses, “this cheese is amazing,” they found the jam a bit spicy and the cheddar went quickly.